Is there any legislation or case law that states that 'Acme Taxis' MUST lose the 'Taxi' word from their name once they take on a PHV, if they were previously 100% HC?

Don't know if there is any requirement nationally which precludes the use of the word 'taxi' in trading names and advertising etc, even if the firm is 100% PHV. The only restriction, as far as I'm aware, is the display of the word on vehicles.

In London there are rules relating to advertising, and these ban minicab/PHV firms using the words 'taxi' and 'cab' etc.

But outside the capital I'm not aware of any restriction. Perhaps some LAs do restrict the word via their operator license conditions, but even if that's the case I doubt of they all do.

But, as far as I know, there's no similar prohibition outside London, apart from that relating to markings on PHVs.

Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 wrote:

31 Prohibition of certain advertisements.

(1) This section applies to any advertisement—

(a) indicating that vehicles can be hired on application to a specified address in London;

(b) indicating that vehicles can be hired by telephone on a telephone number being the number of premises in London; or

(c) on or near any premises in London, indicating that vehicles can be hired at those premises.

(2) No such advertisement shall include—

(a) any of the following words, namely “taxi”, “taxis”, “cab” or “cabs”, or

(b) any word so closely resembling any of those words as to be likely to be mistaken for it, (whether alone or as part of another word), unless the vehicles offered for hire are London cabs.

(3) An advertisement which includes the word “minicab”, “mini-cab” or “mini cab” (whether in the singular or plural) does not by reason only of that fact contravene this section.

(4) Any person who issues, or causes to be issued, an advertisement which contravenes this section is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

(5) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that—

(a) he is a person whose business it is to publish or arrange for the publication of advertisements;

(b) he received the advertisement in question for publication in the ordinary course of business; and

(c) he did not know and had no reason to suspect that its publication would amount to an offence under this section.

(6) In this section—

“advertisement” includes every form of advertising (whatever the medium) and references to the issue of an advertisement shall be construed accordingly;

“telephone number” includes any number used for the purposes of communicating with another by electronic means; and “telephone” shall be construed accordingly.

I was told that providing the business runs 1 hackney they can use the word taxi if it is part of the business name even on their private hire vehicles. In fact we have a company here that do just that.

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